Our friends the Gordons made Homestead Farm their permanent residence,
though they kept open house in town. Beyond the Gordons' was the modest
home of an Irish baronet, Sir Thomas O'Hara. Sir Tom was a bachelor of
sixty. He had run through two fortunes (as became an Irish baronet) in
the racing field and at Homburg, and as a young man he had lived ten
years at Limmer's tavern in London. When not in training to ride his own
steeple-chasers, he was putting up his hands against any man in England
who would face him for a few friendly rounds. He was not always
victorious, either in the field, before the green cloth, or in the ring;
but he was always a kind-hearted gentleman who would divide his last
crown with friend or foe, and who could accept a beating with grace and
unruffled spirit.
He could never ride below the welter weight, and after a few years he
outgrew this weight and was forced to give up the least expensive of
his diversions. The green cloth now received more of his attention,
and, as a matter of course, of his money.
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